Poster lands Vt. newspaper in hot seat

Some people calling distributed sign racist

A few fans waved around a poster at Thursday night's D-1 state boys basketball championship on Thursday night that some say has racist undertones. All of this seems to leave a local newspaper in the hot seat.

Related Content

Some locals are giving the paper flack, calling the sign "racist" on the paper's Facebook page.

It didn't take long to catch the attention of a national organization.

The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) said the poster has racist undertones and writes "By itself, the slogan may be considered clever. But it became offensive when published in a typeface mimicking Chinese calligraphy."

St. Michael's College journalism professor David Mindich wouldn't characterize the sign as "racist," but said definitely wouldn't have run it.

"It was probably done in fun, but I don't think they realized it was culturally insensitive and that there would be a lot of people objecting," Mindich said.

Nikki Khanna, a University of Vermont race relations specialist, told News Channel 5 on the phone she finds what appears to be responses by newspaper staff to critical Facebook comments even more troubling. For example, one read "Lighten up."

Mindich agrees and calls it a missed opportunity.

"They should've reached out and heard out the complaints and responded thoughtfully to them," he said.

The Record declined immediate comment, but did tell News Channel 5 they would editorialize on the subject over the weekend.

The headmaster from St. Johnsbury Academy released a statement Friday afternoon. It said the school wasn't involved in the publishing of the poster.

He goes on to say he appreciates the newspaper's support of the basketball team and that he understands why some deem the font choice culturally insensitive.

Meanwhile, the AAJA wants the Record to "acknowledge its lapses in taste and judgement."